Steemit Open Mic Is About Building A Community Of Musicians On Steemit, Not About Winning

in #openmic7 years ago (edited)

Steemit Open Mic is a live music venue to help musicians on Steemit get their music heard and connect with the music community on Steemit. It is in its 74th week and I've been told it's the longest running contest on Steemit.

The format is a contest with prizes generously sponsored by @pfunk but the idea has always been to foster community engagement for musicians and music lovers.

Music is not really a competition, but having prizes adds an extra incentive to get people to find the courage to put themselves out there with their music. It's just the push some of us needs to inspire us along with deadlines, which have ispired more songs they you'll ever know.

steemit_open_mic_team_new.png

As the community has grown so large over the many weeks since it was first launched things have changed along the way but the main focus is and has always been to help musicians connect on the Steemit platform.

I point this out because lately there have been many people who don't seem to understand what Open Mic is really all about. Some seem to only think it is a way to make money and their focus is only on the potential earnings they could earn playing here.

In the interest of keeping the main thing the main thing and hoping to bring more clarity and understanding to the Open Mic community, I will attempt to share some thoughts and challenges the Open Mic Team face while curating this community.

So let's begin.

Forget About The Price Tag, We Want To Make The World Change

As Open Mic grew and more people started playing for Open Mic, the focus on community, while still strong, has seemed to have drifted to the focus on the earnings.

I love making money on Steemit too but I love building the music community here even more. That's why I started Open Mic to begin with.

From week 2 until the present day @pfunk has been donating 320 Steem, and I have donated from week one 100 Steem toward the contest as prizes. Each week we pick winners to award.

Steemit Giveth And Steemit Taketh Away

Back when Steem was .17 cents and even when it was $7 @pfunk and I have consistently contributed to rewarding performers. Never have we complained when only 10 people entered, or when the price of Steem hit $7, that it was too much money for too little interest.

It takes time to build a vibrant community and we are willing to do the work and put our money where our mouth is because the community is the reason behind doing any of this. It's a big, fun experiment we are all part of and rewards, while nice, is not why we do this.

Back in October 2017 @xeldal delegated +20,000 Steem to my personal account without saying a word and this February 2017 he took it back just as quietly. Never have I complained or even asked him why.

In November 2017 @ausbitbank created an account called @openmic and started a campaign that funded it with +24,000 Steem. One of the biggest contributors was @fulltimegeek and last week he pulled his delegation to help @berniesanders flag someone named @haejin. I don't know anything about that but, just as easy as it came it is gone. I would never dream of complaining to @fulltimegeek about that.

Streemian.com was a way for people who wanted to support the @openmic account which follows my manually upvoted posts of entries for Open Mic to do so without having to delegate Steem from their account. Streemian.com suddenly ceased to exist. Complaining about it is not going to bring it back.

The Value Of Your Music Is Not Measured In SBD

All three of these things have happened at pretty much the same time with the result of dropping the number of rewards my vote added to an Open Mic entry from a base of about 6 SBD to less than 2 SBD.

Since then my inbox, and many of the Open Mic judges has been full of complaints from people feeling like we don't love them anymore and it is very irritating to get complaints from people that I have only tried to help.

Voices Of Open Mic - An Official Judge's Perspective Of Things (Original Vlog) --- by @verbal-d

There is no guarantee that your post will make anything ever, but because many people jumped on the Open Mic bandwagon when times were good they seem to feel that now that the payouts are lower it somehow translates into us not appreciating them like we used too.

Welcome to Steemit folks. We do not control who delegates how much to whom or when they take it back and just because your first few Open Mic posts made 100 SBD and the following ones made 2 SBD does not mean anything. That's just the way Steemit works.

The Steemit Open Mic team cannot control any of that ever and quite frankly I'm getting a little pissed off hearing people complain to us like we have anything to do with it. People can do what they want with the Steem delegation and I am grateful they delegate any to us for any amount of time.

Just so you know, my posts for Open Mic were making 100 -175 SBD during that bull run and have now dropped to 15-50 SBD. Do I complain to you about it? Do I complain when one of the rules for entering is to upvote the contest post so we can earn enough to compensate for the hours spent upvoting people only to see that 400 people entered and the post only got 89 upvotes?

No, I do not. And why is that?

  1. It wouldn't make any difference if I did.
  2. Complaining about things we have no control over is boring.
  3. Open Mic is about building community.

Whether my earnings on a post is 2 SBD or 200 SBD I would still be doing this because it's about building a community of musicians on Steemit. Period!

When my earnings dropped along with everyone did you get a message from me asking you to please upvote my post? No.

I just kept upvoting your entries and still, there are people not happy about the earnings. I'm really sorry I can't help you as much as I used to, but do you hear me saying that we have to lower the prize money now that I'm not earning as much? No, you don't.

The ones complaining are the ones who are focusing mainly on the rewards they earn. Those of you focusing on contributing good music and engaging with the thriving community of musicians have not complained ever.

Voices Of Openmic Soundlegion Official Openmic Judge --- by @soundlegion

So if you find yourself upset and feeling your music is not appreciated because your earnings are down I suggest you take a look at yourself and see if your focus is on what Open Mic is really all about. If your earnings are the focus then you are missing the whole point of this Open Mic community.

My Post Is Not In The Weekly See Who Played List

Another change since the contest has grown so large is that we are being more selective choosing the entries that make it to the weekly See Who Played list for each week.

We have rules in place that serve many purposes so we can run this thing as smoothly as possible and they're there to mainly:

  1. Verify it is really you playing
  2. Keep people from cheating
  3. Make it easy for us to find you

I do make exceptions sometimes. For example, we added a recent rule change asking people to say their username at the start of their video to help us catch people stealing videos from other musicians and claiming it as their own.

Not everyone reads the rules and some of the players who have played Open Mic for many weeks have missed this new rule. Because they have played for so long I know them and would know if someone else tried to pass their performance off as their own. So, even though they did not say their username I included them in the weekly post because I know it is really them.

When I make that exception, without exception, someone new to Open Mic will PM me with a complaint asking why I allowed that entry to be listed without saying their username and did not allow their entry for not saying their username. Because I know them already and know it is them playing. I don't know you yet so say your username and then I will know it is you playing.

We didn't make these rules to mess with people, we made them to keep people from messing with Open Mic. Just follow them to the letter and you'll be fine.

Voice Of The Open Mic Tuesday S Gone Tomorrow Is Another The Day --- by @passion-ground

That being said, there are some people following the rules perfectly and still, they did not get added to the Open Mic See Who Played weekly list. Why is that?

There are many reasons so let me try to list a few.

Lately, there have been some groups of people who find one guitarist to play for them while they each take a turn singing a song. They follow the rules perfectly on each individual post and they do get upvoted by me for entering.

While each individual post is fun to listen to, putting 12 performances from the same guitarist into one post is not the best listening experience for anyone coming to the See Who Played weekly post.

I like the movie Forest Gump and have seen it many times, but I would not like to see it 12 times in a row all day long and neither would you or the Open Mic judges.

There are also a lot of people who are just pretending to play the guitar when it is obvious they are not playing. I don't mean they don't play well, I mean they are not playing the instrument at all, just pretending. I'm not going to add that to the weekly post just because they entered and, believe me, you don't want to hear it.

If you're not a musicians and you're just entering as a way to try to make some easy money and you don't even bring any energy to the show I'm not going to upvote you or if I do upvote you for trying, I'm not going to add you to the weekly list and waste the judges time just because you entered.

Another reason you may not have been included in the See Who Played list is your "performance" is just you jamming guitar along with a song played on a boombox, you're not really playing any musical instrument, your video is not working, you did not add a YouTube link to your post, you did not add a video at all to your post, (yes, I have had people get mad at me for not including them when they didn't even add a performance to their post for me to include) your video is just a black screen, the quality of the recording is just not worth watching, etc.

I do a lot of voting and sometimes I don't vote on the first day of the contest (Sunday) just to let my voting power restore itself. If I wait a little longer my voting power has a chance to restore itself over the weekend so sometimes on Sunday and Monday I will not vote yet just to give it a chance to build back up.

What are those people doing when I don't include them? You guessed it. Complaining to me.

As this contest grows we are getting more and more very talented people coming to Open Mic and there comes a time when I have to pick and choose which ones make it to the weekly post. I have a lot to choose from and I value the judges time.

They put a lot of work into this each week and I'm not going to waste their time with an entry that has dogs barking and people talking in the background, cars and buses making so much noise you can't hear the music, or a recording level so low you can't hear the performance.

If you put so little into making a good entry why should I upvote you? I would rather save that upvote for someone who actually tried their best even if they are not that good. At least they tried.

meno_on_dtube_voices_of_open_mic.png

Voices of the Open Mic @meno - My thoughts on the Open Mic Contest on DTube --- by @meno

Some people are very competitive even when it comes to music and if winning is the reason you're here then step up your game. If your post has no chance in hell of winning then get better. Even if you don't get selected you're still getting an upvote from me so stop crying to me about it, please.

I didn't start this just so I can upvote you. I started it to help musicians connect, so, connect. No one is stopping you from getting involved in the Open Mic community. @krystle only entered Open Mic twice and look how well she connected with the community.

Now, that said, I have missed including some people in the weekly post sometimes just because of error, both personal errors and errors not in my control. There have been some weeks where a whole group of entries didn't even show up in my feed until 2-3 days after they were posted. That was an issue with Steemit, not me. If it's not there I can't upvote it.

This is a big experiment and sometimes things don't work perfectly every time and you shouldn't take it personally. To do so is self-defeating.

Besides Running Steemit Open Mic I Also Have A Life

One of the things I hear a lot from people entering is they appreciate the many hours spent by me and the judges listening to hundreds of entries each week. It really does take a lot of time, but I also have a life outside of Steemit.

I'm sure I spend at least 60 hours or more per week listening to entries and communicating to all involved and sometimes it takes a couple days or more for me to get to your entry. Please try to be patient. I will get to it.

Sending me a PM asking me why I didn't upvote your post yet is not going to help me get to it faster. If you feel I'm ignoring your PM it's because I am. I just don't have the time to answer questions from impatient people wanting their upvote now.

Some people make another entry thinking I missed theirs. No, I didn't miss it. You're just standing in a long line until I get to yours. Making another post, besides being against the rules, just makes me take longer to get through the posts and PMing me takes longer still.

Somewhere in all of this, I have to eat, take a shower, buy food, pay bills, visit friends, organize Steemit meetups, make a post, and travel to places like Anarcapulco last week.

I don' t have the time to address your impatience. I don't even have the time to respond to the entries on the Open Mic post anymore and save my responses in the comments of each individual entry instead.

Rest assured, I'm working my ass off to get to your post and need your patience and understanding, not your complaining.

Trying To Make An Open Mic App

I've been trying to get an app made for Open Mic and @cptnduras started working on it and I'll keep you updated as it progresses.

To Those Not Complaining

For all of the musicians not complaining about any of this I just want to say thank you for getting what we're trying to do here and for contributing to the community in your own special way. You are who we are working so hard for and we appreciate your support.

It is challenging sometimes trying to keep everyone happy and your energy and attitude really help.

You guys obviously get that the main idea behind Open Mic on Steemit is to foster an engaging musical community and any rewards gained is just extra goodness.

Why anyone is upset by sharing their music with such a wonderful community is beyond my understanding and your understanding is worth all of this work.

I once paid a publicist $400/week to promote my band and he taught me about the 25|25|50 rule.

A publicist, also known as a public relations specialist, is someone who generates media coverage for their client in order to promote them to the public.

He told me that anyone who promotes themselves in public in the media will find that:

  • 25% of the people exposed to you will love everything about you and what you, or your project, stands for
  • 25% of the people will hate everything you stand for as much as the people who love you, love you.
  • 50% will not know you exist and will go on about their lives

A publicist's job is to focus on the 25% of the people that love what you're doing and ignore the rest. That is what I intend to keep doing.

The very fact that some people are not happy hints to the success we are having reaching people on the Steemit platform. It's impossible to keep everyone happy, but those of you that understand that engaging with the community you're part of is the main reward are the most appreciated of all. You are why we do this. So, thank you for your music, support, and interest.

luzcypher-emoji-verified-2.png

Sort:  

100% agree with you here... Still, i bet many people complaining are newbies, and thats something we should expect to happen, this post should be pinned in steemit LOL ...

I just remember when i won week 54 and i received the price, i was so surprised because i totally forgot there was such a big price, i was just focused on playing week after week and enjoying the community, and was totally happy with the 2-3 SBD i usually earned on the posts, it was much more than i ever earned on youtube or instagram or facebook or whatever...

People that will engage with the community regardless the money, is the people that will stay longer around and will success in steemit in the long term, many more will quickly quit and soon or later will regret quitting when openmic and steemit becomes totally mainstream...

I'm so loving your guitar playing.


I’m dumbfounded that anyone would complain to you or the other judges. Really?! Wtf are they thinking??.
I mean, maybe I’ve missed something because I’m new around here, but isn’t it obvious that sharing music and meeting other like minded creators is, not only what this open mic stuff is about, but just good old fun to partake in?
The rewards are a good incentivisation to contribute regularly, but it shouldn’t be any self-respecting artist’s motivation for sharing their music performances.

Funnily enough, I’m so new I didn’t even know I could PM you. Lol! (But now that I know... insert evil laughter from Dr Doom 😂 🤣 ) But, come on fellow entrants, since when has harassing people ever motivated them to WANT to help you?!?
Seriously?
Has it ever truly worked for you in any positive way?
Maybe you’re unaware of basic human psychology, but generally speaking, harassing people makes them strongly dislike you.
Like a magnet in reverse.
My advice would be to get off Open Mic, go meditate (perhaps while practicing your music) and let go of your sense of entitlement to get your integrity back into the center of your being, then come back with an open, grateful heart and share in our community.

For me, having placed in the top 5 a couple of times was friggin’ awesome, but not because of the money (which is awesome, don’t get me wrong), but mostly because it is acknowledgement of the hard work I put into my music and my performances.

I find myself checking the ‘REPLIES’ section of my profile almost obsessively much more than anything else because I’m hoping to meet more amazing musicians and content creators who’ve commented on my posts.

It’s the people who’ve taken time to watch my music performances and commented on my posts that inspire me to go and check out their profile and upvote their content creations.


That’s how it grows, dear Steemit friends!

Anyway, @luzcypher and open mic judges, thank you kindly for all the hours you generously put in. You’re all wonderful beings supporting music and the arts in the best way.


Please don’t get disheartened by selfish dipshits that have $SBD in their heads, obfuscating their hearts.

The rest of us love and appreciate you immensely.
🙏🏽⭐️💚🎼🎶


Maybe you’re unaware of basic human psychology, but generally speaking, harassing people makes them strongly dislike you.
Like a magnet in reverse.
My advice would be to get off Open Mic, go meditate (perhaps while practicing your music) and let go of your sense of entitlement to get your integrity back into the center of your being, then come back with an open, grateful heart and share in our community.

Yep, I'm pretty sure that's how that works. LOL

isn’t it obvious that sharing music and meeting other like-minded creators is, not only what this open mic stuff is about, but just good old fun to partake in?

You definitely get what Open Mic is about. We're supposed to be having fun here folks.

Sure have been loving your music and energy @nathankaye and can't wait to hear what you do next.

And now you get that I get that you get that I get it... hehe...
Can't wait to keep sharing, bruthaman! Thanks for all you do!

I liked the 25/25/50 rule at the end, makes perfect sense now. You have a hard job man, I'm glad you made that post, I read a lot of things i was hoping too read if that makes sense haha. I still think earnings for playing is an important part of the contest especially for people from low income nations.

I have to agree that both the combination of up-votes (the measure, validation, and recognition of one's efforts) along with the commensurate rewards derived from such, are extremely motivating factors for each and every one of us!

Like @luzcypher said though, losing delegates, and not having enough "Team" and "Community" support from the many awesome "Whales" and "Witnesses" out there who can appreciate the enduring value that the Open-Mic brings to the Steemit Platform, - the "dollar-amount" of actual rewards (regardless of the number of general up-votes) will suffer greatly (community-wide) without their meaningful presence and ongoing contributions .

Of course, any support is welcomed but I like the voluntary contributions a lot. They feel genuine. I never asked for any delegation, or the @openmic account to be started, or upvotes aside from the contest post. I did ask people to nominate me for @quinneaker's Steemfest ticket giveaway.

Aside from that, the only thing I ask people is to follow the damn rules, don't cheat, and have fun with sharing music here. The fact that Open Mic has grown so big demonstrates people find value in it.

You know, I've been in the "help people have fun business" for a long time now in various forms and it still surprises me how hard it is to help people have fun. There's always a group who refuse to have fun even in the most fun situation. Just how people are I guess.

I have so many messages from people saying Open Mic is what brought them or kept them on Steemit, it's made them a better musician or helped then grow out of their comfort zone.

Having more support from whales or witnesses would be nice, but mainly so we could better compensate the team for working so hard and be able to reward good musicians more. Develop an app and market it to attract more musicians to Steemit. I'm very grateful for the support we do have from everyone involved and for the great music.

Very well said, Luz! As an aside, I'm thinkin' that @quinneaker and @nathankaye need to get together on a didgeridoo collaboration! :-)

I think you summed it up rather well when you said:

"Having more support from whales or witnesses would be nice, but mainly so we could better compensate the team for working so hard and be able to reward good musicians more."

Support of such kind is was makes "Steemit" the magical place that it is...

Wow! @quinneaker and @nathankaye! Now that sounds like fun to me. I would want to play some guitar to that.

Thank you for taking your time and giving such a complete and detailed explanation. I really appreciate what you and the team that accompanies you do weekly. It's impossible to keep everyone happy all the time. The truth I had never noticed the frustration in so many participants (except for 1 or 2 cases) should be because I don't keep looking at what is wrong but what if it works, I noticed the decrease in income but I didn't pay attention because I have received so many benefits not only economic but also of another kind. But well... we're moving on and now with more reason to improve my entries and offer a quality performance. Thank you for thinking about the Steemit community of musicians. Greetings from Venezuela

The very fact that some people are not happy hints to the success we are having reaching people on the Steemit platform. It's impossible to keep everyone happy, but those of you that understand that engaging with the community you're part of is the main reward are the most appreciated of all. You are why we do this. So, thank you for your music, support, and interest.

Funnily enough I am having a very similar issue on AtomCollectorRecords.com ever since I added Musicoin and dsound to it.

People are complaining that it's no longer about the community and it's all about the money. All I did was make people aware that there are sites out there that allow you to make money from your music. If people choose to earn something for the amazing music they have created then it doesn't mean they don't care about anything other than money any more!
You wouldn't spend weeks working on an oil painting only to give it to a random stranger in the street would you?

Sure the dynamic of a group changes as it grows but it's up to the ones that really want to be part of a community to try that bit harder to make it successful and not be affected by the naysayers!

The complainers are the ones who shout loudest so it starts to feel as though they are the majority but when I actually look at how many people are using the site on a daily basis I realise that they are actually a very small minority but as the membership has grown then in pure numbers there are more complainers!

So keep doing the excellent job you are doing with #openmic and ignore the complainers. Engaging with them just fuels the fire. Use that energy to thank the ones that are contributing and let's all get stronger together!


Add dsound & Musicoin tracks and get more plays!


Follow @JuxtaMusic for More Of My Music

Engaging with them just fuels the fire. Use that energy to thank the ones that are contributing and let's all get stronger together!

Very wise words. Thanks for the encouragement and kindness.

Man, you always tackle these issues with the correct tone and logical reasoning.

When i think of Steemit, i also think of openmic as i have never known a steemit without it. I also believe it is largely at the centre of this budding music community and deserves respectful support from everyone who engages in it.

Too bad about the sudden delgation retracts, however as u said. We were lucky to have had it...i mean all of us!

Much love and respect to you my man and the toality of the openmic team who do not get enough praise and recognition for their tireless and selfless efforts.

Not just anyone would be able to do what you guys n gals do. I sure as fuck couldn’t! I’d probably lose my mind ;)

I'm starting to appreciate why Simon Cowell can be such a dick sometimes. - @luzcypher

simom_cowell.jpg

If I Was A Judge - by the @steembirds

ha, I hear ya. I can only imagine what you deal with.

Haha i see u caught that afterall ;)

lol... haha what an odd picture

hahaha i was saying just the other day im starting to feel like I appreciate simon cowell way more. lol

Wow I am so impressed!! You knocked this post out of the ball park! Great job going through all the issues and breaking this down for people. Loved that you shared the judges voices of openmic posts in there as people were reading. This was great . I also believe with the amount of complaints and chatter going on its a good sign for success. Steemit goes through its waves and its a new system all around in so many directions, openmic is really a top knotch hit and then some. The future to me looks so bright for this platform and openmic that we gonna need solar x 10 shades my friend. beautifully done. my humble bow good sir

I swear you spoke my mind!

Thanks, @soundlegion. Loved your video BTW.

I heard you dropped Steemit Artists Music Compilation - Volume 4. Going to give that a listen. Thanks for that.

I totally agree, but you know what? as it happens with all things, sooner or later it will be debugging the community, and those people who only show interest in the money will feel that they have no more space between us, OpenMic from my perspective is and will be a community of people who love the music, who are here to relate to each other and share their work, their anecdotes and their life around music, the personal relationships acquired here transcend even the same Steemit platform, allowing us to exploit our talent, whatever it is and share it With the whole world, that I believe is the true added value of Steemit and this community; The rewards are rewarding and certainly help the participants, but they are not the ultimate goal of Open Mic, that is my humble opinion. . .

Never heard anyone express it quite like that. Yes, agreed 100%

Ok ok, so there are people actually complaining and demanding stuff from you, who only give and give and work and work?, I say they can take their entitled asses somewhere else, simple as that.

I agree with you thought, these are growing pains.

However we, the ones that actually love this community, are 100% behind you, if you miss someone that week, you are human, it's okay, if someone's entry is not up to snuff, they shouldn't be in the "see who played this week" post, if someone makes an entry without their username at the beginning of the video (I'm guilty of this and will fix it for my next ones) and no one knows who they are yet, it's okay if you decide not to allow them in, it's your contest after all, you set some pretty clear rules, not even difficult ones, why would they not be able to follow them?

We are all behind you brother, this community exists because you made it, you are the glue that brought us all together and keeps us together and we all love you for it!!

All the love to you! :)

I'm sure loving your music too. Thanks for sharing and being involved in helping the community.

I gotta say man, you're way more patient than I am and I can tell you're pissed about the complaints. I would be too. You've a great outlook. I wish the complainers would realize how short life is and how chasing money is a waste of time. Get in and feel what you're playing is all that matters. Peace bro!

One of the reasons I made this post is so I can send a link to it to the people that complain. It's just going to save time rather than explaining it to each person, I can just send them this link. Thanks for all your music man.

BTW, how's the Horn's Up Saloon doing?

That was a great way to save time. I hope they read it, digest it, and reflect to understand it. The Saloon is trucking along. I'm getting more traction each week it seems :)
Thanks @luzcypher!

@luzcypher
Well said, written and explained for those participants that are obviously missing the very essence of what Open Mic is all about, and your vision in nurturing, supporting and championing us musicians in this ever growing community.
We should all be networking and mutually appreciating one another's talents and song writing skills.
I've made a whole bunch of really great muso friends here over the past 6 weeks and am very thankful for that.
My first entry in week 69 received $100+ but the following weeks have never made nearly as much, am I bothered by that? no not really, because I have faith in myself, my music and your Open Mic project to inspire me and others to keep doing what we all love! MAKING MUSIC TO SHARE.
Cheers for letting me have my 2 pennies worth!
Kindest as always!
@mrbloom

Your message speaks exactly the words I feel about the Open Mic community and Steemit in general. Just keeping it real and keeping it fun and if we're lucky we'll keep it real fun.

@luzcypher.
Brilliant post.
I always liked the open mic since I joined it for the first time.
The fact that I've never won makes me like the whole experience even more.
Why is that? Whatever I play, either it's an original music or cover, is aimed at any music lover. I do not expect to win with my entries since not everybody perhaps likes the genres that I play.
The point is that I'm here to enjoy myself, of course to entertain other music lovers but most of all to participate since I could sing and play my guitar for family and friends anytime I want.

Beautifully said, my paisano! I've never won either, but that never stopped me from lovin' the Open-Mic! :-)

Well, I didn't know that but you are a super judge now.
BTW I like and respect all judges.
@passion-ground, thank you for the nice comment!

I've never won either.

I like that. I feel better now knowing that I'm not the only one.
Thank you always for supporting us!

I think you should dust that guitar down and knock out a few tunes man!
We'd all like to hear that! failing that, I'll have a jam with you at the next steemfest!

Awesome, brother! I remember similar clips such as this that you slipped in here and there... You got some really good chops, Luz! I think it's time for an "unofficial" entry, man! Bring it on, brother!

I'll have to upvote this now won't I mate? we wouldn't want you ranting about that measly $0.15 now would we? lol!!!!!
Hey, nice chops right there though brother @luzcypher! I feel my vocals warming up already!
Do you have any lyrics in mind?
We'll talk some more about this collab project very soon man!
I'm sure @passion-ground will add some flavour to the recipe!
Maybe we'll even make $100!!! ha ha ha ha!!
#sarcasm

Hahahahaha!!!!

Don't have any lyrics. Go for it!

Sweet.....looks like a nice exotic kind of wood used on the guitar too

Well, how novel a thought is that! (lol) I think we'd have to take some cues from @benleemusic as to how best to go about collaborating in a meaningful way. :-) Thanks, brother!

Well up for this brother P!! Let's talk some more soon!

That would be fun playing with @benleemusic or doing duets with some of the musicians on Open Mic.

Thanks for everything you and the judges do for #openmic! I'm shocked that anybody complains about any of this. Resteeming

I know, right? Some have made $1,000's of dollars and are still not happy. Blows my mind really. They didn't even have to leave the house and deal with drunk people. LOL!!!! I I get to give away so much thanks to Steemit, @pfunk, and Open Mic and feel blessed to do so.

I came to Steemit because the blockchain is going to be the biggest music business disruptor since Napster - the decentralization and transparency will guarantee artists get their fair share of their sales for the first time ever. What you've created at #openmic and what we're doing with it will one day be documented as the early days of a massive culture-creating revolution, and we'll laugh and drink and be proud to have served on these front lines. That said, the future's not for everybody :)

What? They're serving laughs and drinks on the front lines? Damn, we got to get into this future. Hahaha!

I agree with you that the future will leverage decentralization technology to exchange digital value P2P and revolutionize the creating process and put it's value directly in the artist's control.

Just like crypto allows one to be their own bank, creators will be their own product.

It's created a lot of chaos, but the overall impact of digital technology has been one that's liberated and empowered artists.

That's a rather profound statement, Joe - however, I must admit that I am in full agreement with you, brother!

Steemit has helped me to find lots of options, contacts and guidance, and I'm sure that I'll have a cool crypto/blockchain solution for releasing my next single soon. Even if I just release it through DSound that's miles beyond mainstream platforms on a number of levels.

I’m so sorry that you and all of the judges are having to put up with shit like this. What is wrong with people??

Why anyone is upset about sharing their music with such a wonderful community is beyond my understanding.

I think you summed it up perfectly there. I just want to say for the record how much I appreciate everything you do for the music community here! I have made so many great friends through open mic... which for me, is what it is all about.

I hope some of those ass hats read this post and reconsider their attitude. Keep your head held high knowing that you’ve built something amazing and that you are appreciated by SO many Steemians!

So nice of you to express your sentiments in such a beautiful and blunt fashion! Love you, @coruscate! xxx :-)

Thanks. The main reason I made this post is so I can link it to people who complain I'm not voting them fast enough or high enough. It gets tiring having to explain the same things so this post will save me time.

Thanks for understanding and for having fun here.

Bang on Lady! we know the deal here! music music music!
Teamwork makes the Dream work doll xx
And we're on the same team!

Hello sir @luzcypher its been month since I last submit my entry to an openmic. As soon as I come back from my vacation I’ll be joining again this awesome community @openmic. For now I’m a full time dad to my 1month old son here in philippines the reason why I am not so active in #steemit.

Yeah that’s what exactly my mindset is when talking about #openmic, it’s not about SBD it’s not about winning instead how you develope your connection and relationship with every musicians and all of the steemians who are amazingly sharing their thoughs, masterpiece and any beneficial article.

Wow! thats perfect sir an openmic app is really an amazing idea can’t wait to use that app.

More power @openmic team God Speed.

You are a good man, @g10a! I'm sure you are a great Dad to your newborn son as well - the most important responsibility in any man's life! I look forward to any and all new music you bring forth to the Open-Mic and Song Writers Challenge! Much love, brother!

much thanks sir @passion-ground

Congratulations on your newborn son! That changes everything.

Where did you go on vacation?

Thank you sir @luzcypher.
Here in the Philippines sir.

Hombre, tienes mi apoyo incondicional. El trabajo que traes contigo es mucho. Los que celebramos la música y los verdaderos principios de ésta lo sabemos.¿Que todos necesitamos dinero? es cierto. Pero entiendo perfectamente que el fin primero de #openmic no es ese... el dinero es un bello daño colateral... el verdadero premio que nos ofrece #openmic @luzcypher ha sido crearnos un espacio para la interacción... un espacio para las voces apagadas... no todos tenemos vías para hacernos escuchar... Yo apoyo la filosofía del concurso y la celebro! Gracias, hombre!

Has jugado bien jugando Open Mic y está claro que entiendes lo que estamos haciendo aquí, creando una comunidad de músicos. Eres una gran parte de esta comunidad y tu música mueve almas

Gracias, hombre. Es un gran honor para mí.

hey man. it’s been great hearing from your heart. firstly I really salute you with you ‘never complain’ attitude. then I really fail to realize there’s so many things to deal with (ie complaints and just constantly improving rules) when hosting a contest. thought it was just listening to loads of music then choosing the best. 25| 50 |25 was really helpful for me as I learn to focus on the people who love my work. lastly I’m glad to hear that it’s possible to have a life outside of Steemit and keeping that balance in check. Steemit has been life-changing this far. and I want it to be a positive life change going on into the future :)

8281F22C-5788-4C6D-B807-39688325117D.jpeg

thought it was just listening to loads of music then choosing the best. 25| 50 |25

Honestly, so did I. I never thought people would try to cheat it or start feeling fewer upvotes equates to less love of their music somehow.

All around though, it is a lot of fun.

I don't blame them as it's really natural to feel that. but when you pause for a moment and think about how the gigs are paid in the real world. the amount of work put in is often not reflected properly on the payment. just learning and reminding ourselves to be content that we get rewarded and appreciated while doing what we love :)

i am modeling #steemskate off this open mic model. thank you luzcypher

Steemskate looks cool and like a lot of fun. I can't skate for shit though.

i feel like it could bring a lot of people into steemit though, because i personally have helped sign up 2 people JUST to do your open mic nights !

Cool. I hear that a lot of people, that Open Mic is why they came and stayed on Steemit.

One question. Are the people pretending to play guitar actually holding guitars? Could be a great open mic spin-off.

air guitar competition!

hahaha!!!

Truly understandable... Im sure its hard to do your great job hosting Openmic. The many entries and lots of invalid entries will surely waste your time. I tried to join once but I missed the cutoff, what Im glad is you responded to me to tell me that I missed it, at least I know. Although now I cant join because In not good with instruments... Youve done a pretty good job in bringing all the musicians together... Keep on going and dont bother of their negative feedback. Your doing a great work in this community..

Thanks for the forum! I will post to the open mic soon. I've been meaning to for a few weeks now.

Well spoken.......

Yes, I love it when artist and fans come together. Along with showing steemit to people on my website I resteem up to five tunes a day from the boombox tag. After starting it I've had over 50 artists and fans post all together!! How exciting. I'll be taking part of the open mic more often in the later weeks now that I'm all set up!

Cool. I've seen some boombox posts and some are really cool

Thx for mentioning that!

Very well written and thoughtful points. I think you should have the right to change the prize payout based on the economy - whatever you're doing should be enough by your standards and if it's hard to keep paying more and more you shouldn't be obligated to. Remember to always do right by your standards, and remember that negative people on the internet can't touch you. Peach!

Thanks for the kind words. I'm fine with the rewards as long as @pfunk is.

Remember to always do right by your standards, and remember that negative people on the internet can't touch you

Good things to remember. Thanks for the reminder.

Keep on going brother, what you do here is really great and I know it bothers that those to whom you extend your hand end up giving you a slap, but I'm sure the pretentions of those "ignorant" people who only seek money and complain and who finally do not understand or understand the concept of OpenMic because it is simply not in their genes to understand it, I am sure that they will not be able to make your effort vanish and come apart, I am sure that OpenMic will continue to grow ... the moment I have little time in the community but from the beginning I understood to perfection the meaning and direction of this contest, therefore has an ally and a friend who loves music as much as I'm sure you love your @luzcypher. .

I love that you do this contest. I wish I was better at participating every week. It's been a great thing for me and I've loved participating, but I've gotten overwhelmed with school and some performances that I got recently. I plan to participate as much as possible regardless of what prizes are or if I ever get any at all! I know you do a lot for the community and I appreciate you!

esta es mi entrada a la participacion de la semana #74

https://steemit.com/openmic/@henrygds/steemit-open-mic-semana-74-spontaneous-original-spanish

saludos amigo@luzcypher

Gracias por entrar, pero este no es el lugar para poner su enlace.

¿No es eso obvio para ti?

Mira alrededor. ¿Ves a alguna otra persona que vincule su entrada aquí? ¿De verdad crees que va a obtener más puntos de vista?

Perdon tiene mucha razon me equivoque...

Oye bro!.. Creo que te equivocaste de ruta.
Lee las instrucciones. Suerte!

I have vote u an dfollow u pls vote me and follow me

Nice post

I care about the music more than the money. I know I have little chance of winning a prize these days as there are so many awesome musicians taking part. That won't stop me entering and I apologise for making more work for you ;) Anyone who tries to cheat should get flagged in my opinion as they are actively harming Steemit. This platform is changing as it grows.. We will see more spam and other abuse, but we want it to be bigger. That may make it harder to run contests like this, but I hope you can find ways to keep it going.

Steem on!

Well said!

I agree I think someone like pfunk should flag them.

Although I'm hearing gratitude here, I think I'm sensing that a part of the honeymoon is over, or perhaps just getting relentless :)

In my short time here, I have learned a couple of things; there are people here to help, there are people here who graciously accept it, there are people here who take advantage of others graciousness, and there are people here who have no manners whatsoever and simply beg or demand the upvotes.

The fact that you have some frustrations tells me that your contest is a successful one. And the fact that you're not complaining, also tells me that you are a success...and a gentleman.

Funny enough, I could fill you in on this:

One of the biggest contributors was @fulltimegeek and last week he pulled his delegation to help @berniesanders flag someone named @haejin. I don't know anything about that but, just as easy as it came it is gone. I would never dream of complaining to @fulltimegeek about that.

but that is for a private message on Discord sometime.

Although I don't have my reach in your music business, and can't smooth too many of your ruffled feathers because I'm at a loss for the details, I can tell you that you made a huge difference for me here, and I have since payed that forward tenfold. You taught me that there are selfless givers on this platform, and that is what I've become.

So although I can only listen to you here, and offer support, please know that I think you're awesome! For whatever that is worth :)

Touched my heart!!

Excelentes palabras @luzcypher... En lo particular nunca he visto a #openmic como una competencia. Todo lo contrario. openmic ha creado en mí, un poco más de conciencia en la música. Por esa razón se ha ganado mi respeto y compromiso... El trabajo que hace todo el team, es de lo mejor. Magnifico!!! No me quejo. Más bien estoy bastante agradecido por permitirme ya se parte de su familia y permitirme ese halago... En mi camino como músico ustedes y mi amigo @wilins han llegado ser, una columna. O mejor dicho varias!!!. Son muchas las palabras que podría escribir para agradecer tal maravilloso apoyo que no pararía de escribir. Pero hay trabajo que hacer para mi nueva entrada xD. Así que a trabajar … Un abrazo para todos!!! Y recuerden ser mejor hoy, de lo que fueron ayer... ✌

A solid post Please accept the people open mic everything.

I appreciate all the time you guys put into making this work for all of us. I don’t know that I’ll ever “win”, but I do love participating in it. I mentioned in my Voices of Open Mic video (that I barely got posted by the deadline last night...sorry it was so late) but I told how I’m just glad to have a place I can share and get some good feedback. I also love meeting other musicians and supporting their efforts. We need to have a get together. I’d love to jam with you all. Thanks again for all that you do!!

Man, why do i hear my thoughts in this post, bruh you done more than enough to make everyone on here happy sadly some persons just came on here when steem and sbd took a downslide, regardless we do it for the love, not for the money, a popular highlife musician once told me it's not all about the money, but it's all about the money : meaning if you make music out of passion instead of the drive from the earnings money will find you. The first week I came on here I was simply excited bout singing to a whole new community, I didn't even know before and the love was massive I didn't expect to be a Winner but i was, this has been my attitude so far.At the end of the day whether I get 2-3 sbds from my post or get 20 something sbds ,I repeat we do this for the love. Thanks once again @luzcypher for making this possible.

amazing post, its so true, i guess all the music its an universal feeling, a languaje, sometimes for express some love, or pain or strongs feelings. and its a languaje for the soul, its better to create songs in a pro way, each week try to improve and show some quaility songs or covers. and of course put a little bit of fun, im a new user, valeria and myself enjoy a lot this contest / comunity, for fun, we laughts a lot when im going to record a new cover song, and some people that dont know that valeria have a nice / good voice, now they can listen, and if a good motivation for us, upload videos each week. not for prices, for the passion to create new songs, organice ideas of some covers or songs that going to be better with that fusion rhyms, we try to transforms cover songs in a experimental way fusion to latin and flamenco and rap, salsa, whatever, we like ´s a lot the opportunity for being listen, we don´t care about a looot of people listen our songs or a few ones, but we really joy the fact that we create music for us, for others, some songs that we like´s a lot and we try to convert in another kind of rhythm vibe´s song with other feeling. we try to play like childrens in each song... im in the music business in my country since 90´s and i dont have too much fun that the joy that i have this weeks creating covers for this open mic (in fact in the past i hate to play cover´s songs xD lol , but for now i don´t care cause i love to experiment with music) ...finally thanks a lot for create this kind of international music window for art and music, and the scamers or fake people get out of here. sincerely nahu padilla a new member of steemit and a newest member to open mic lml bless to all and thanks for reading this long testament xD (p.d. sorry for my bad english, im a spanish writer that no use it google translator at all xD)

Do I complain when one of the rules for entering is to upvote the contest post so we can earn enough to compensate for the hours spent upvoting people only to see that 400 people entered and the post only got 89 upvotes?

That has to be frustrating as hell... and I can see how that rule is not efficiently enforceable. Could some sort of automatic filter identify non-voting entries before you spend your man hours giving them attention? I mean, I know it's all there for everyone to see, but I'm not the guy who knows how to make a bot to do it for you.

Openmic works best
When one shows it the respect
It has shown to one

I very much appreciate this post and everything that you are doing It is an enormous task. And it is the wise words of that publicist that I would want to focus on too. And as far as the rest maybe your success is showing :-). Thank you very much!

Thank you very much @luzcyper, you guys are helping me to wake up, to leave the comfort zone. It's great that we have to try even harder to be on the list, because there's a lot of talent in the world, and many artists who want to express themselves. Go ahead and I wish you all blessings.

It's really nice to read your words, I'm completely happy in here because I have met a lot of good musicians and I really enjoy to listen to them, they are very talent people and I always learn something new which each video that I watch. Thanks for this dude. I appreciate your work and I hope to carry on getting better and enjoying OpenMic.

Your objective is working, because people around the world are exchanging their talent in here and I hope that it carries on working

thank you for this. its so honest and also gives an accurate depiction to all the hard work and BS the open mic hosts have to go through - and still do - to support it each and every week (heck, even every day!). it means a lot, so thanks for hanging in there on behalf of the 25% <3